[updated:LAST EDITED ON Jan-06-06 AT 01:15 AM (EST)]Hey all my blues brothers and sisters, just want to get the word out that my cousin Cindy Lou (against the rest of the family's wishes) has decided to put our Uncle Charley's '53 blond (100% original) Tele on the market. Unfortunately this is not a joke, I wish it were.

She's the one who inherited it, so it's her choice. I'm the one who keeps it safe and insured, so I'm the one who has to post this message. We've done all we can to convince her this is a bad idea, but as usual she won't listen. Anyway, it's for sale. Rather than go to Ebay or other routes, I thought I would put the word out here first, because if it sells I want it to go to somebody I know and trust, and who would really treasure this instrument.

Anyway, if you are interested or even just curious about this guitar, go ahead and email me, I can send you the pics and the information. This is truly killing me to write this. If somebody wants to call Cindy Lou and tell her she's freakin' crazy, I'd be tempted to give you the phone number.

drowning in sorrow, if this don't give you the blues, what will?
Chilbert

yes please post some pics if you can. And, no offense, but I also think she may be slightly crazy. Thats a gem of a guitar. I didnt think anyone who owned ona those would ever sell it. It would be nice, as you said, for it to go to someone who would appreciate it.... but if not, i suppose the next best thing is to make sure she gets what its worth.

I personally have never understood the attraction of telecasters much, but that's a big move selling something that's pristine and so old now....

Maybe a covert within-the-family operation to abduct and hide the item in quesiton is in order, keep it 'on ice' for a while until she changes her mind.
Or maybe someone in your family buy it from her?

Yep, thats what I figured it was worth. Thats why I'll just have to be happy with my classic blonde "Squire" Telecaster. Worth every bit of $200. LOL Seriously though, I bet it is a thing of beauty. Lets see her!

Oh yes, we have asked Cindy Lou to reconsider, we've begged, pleaded, cajoled and threatened brutality and thievery. We've done all that. She's as hardheaded as they come. Believe me, if it belonged to me, we would definitely not be having this conversation right now. So as Savage said, the best thing for it is to get what it's worth and try to place good 'ol Uncle Charley in a good home where he'll be appreciated. Hopefully a player, not just a collector (Grady's right, the collectors really drive the prices up out of reach of many players). But ya still gotta get what the market will bear. And, no, Cindy Lou is not selling this because of what she may have seen on Craigslist or Ebay lately (53 Tele went for $50K on Ebay not long ago!). She doesn't know a damn thing about guitars or what they might be worth. In this case, that's a good thing.

I wasn't much attracted to Telecasters either, until about 3 years ago when we discovered Uncle Charley and plugged him into a little Roland Blues Cube amp and I put my fingers on that fretboard for the first time. Blew me away. Unmistakeable sound of the Tele. And that neck just feels like nothing I'd ever played before.

No friends it ain't about getting greedy, as the truth of this whole sordid mess reveals. As some of you might have imagined, it's a matter of a messy divorce (it's her second one, you'd think she would have learned by now, like I said she's hardheaded) so whatever she gets for old Uncle Charlie is going to go straight into some lawyer's bank account. Thats what REALLY pisses me off about this whole thing.

I got an appraisal from George Gruhn, so I know roughly what it's worth, hopefully we can get that much. Oh well, better to have played a vintage Tele and lost it, than to never have played one at all. Anyway, I've never posted pics on a board before so I'll try one here and if it works I'll post a few more. If I can't figure it out, I'll email some pics to Grady and maybe he can post them or put them on his website. Now, everybody go get yourself a good strong drink and help me drown my sorrows. Thanks for commiserating.

Looks like i figured out how to post these snapshots, so here's a few more. Everything is original--- the downside is that the human Uncle Charlie (he was the only owner of this guitar) decided he wanted to refinish it sometime back in the '60's I guess. Doh! That was an error in judgement on his part, and a big one. Anyway he stripped off the original blond finish and slapped clear coat on there. Guess he wanted to see that wood grain a little better. Oh well.

We all make mistakes. I once traded in my one-owner 1970 Ford Torino Cobra (ya mean the one with the 429? Yep, that badass one.) to buy a F150 pick-up truck. Well to get back to the topic at hand, I thought some of you telecaster fans would like to see a couple more shots of Uncle Charley....

I've bought plenty of guitars, but so far I've never sold one. (Come to think of it, they are kinda piling up around here). Don't really know how to go about it, especially one like this. Any suggestions would be welcome.

Grady, i'll email you in the next few days about that. Would like to know how much you got for that '54 too. Meanwhile, I'm going to get a least a couple more sessions in with this guitar, just so I can commit the feel of it to my memory.

>That's gonna hurt the value of it and bring the price down
>to where a player can get hold of it.

Good think yer Uncle Charlie did that then. I wouldnt think that most real players would care much about the look of the guitar, especially yours. They don't even let me play the "vintage" reissue tele at sam ash. I've heard some real vintage ones and they scream. I know how much I love my American Deluxe tele, and I can only imagine how nice THAT one is to play.

That's a good point, maybe Unca Charlie did the right thing after all. We want this guitar in the hands of somebody who will play the hell out of it, not just put it in a display case or hang it on the wall. And boy, does it play!